Did Marvel Bring Anti-Venom Back in Time for the Venom Movie?

Recently, a popular version of Eddie Brock's symbiotic relationship, the Anti-Venom, returned to life in Marvel Comics. Could its return be related to an increased Venom activity on the film front?

Since the slippery symbiote's debut in Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #8 (1984), Venom and Peter Parker evolved into an archetypal love-hate relationship. Others, such as Eddie Brock and Flash Thompson, found the symbiotic relationship more rewarding, going on to form the anti-hero duo the Lethal Protector, the heroic Agent Venom, and even Venom: Space Knight.

Flash was the latest host of the Klyntar, until recently anyway. After he and his second skin returned to Earth during Civil War II, Flash’s compatriot was stolen from him. The sentient skin surfaced before long, though, teaming up with less-than-honorable former Army Ranger, Lee Price, before finding its way back to its most famous host, Eddie Brock in the anniversary special, Venom #150. Lonesome for his crime-fighting cohort, Flash goes in search of it, asking his old buddy Peter Parker for help. In the first issue of the Amazing Spider-Man and Venom crossover, Venom Inc., Flash and Spider-Man discover quite a bit more than they bargained for.

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Marvel also might be giving us our first taste of things to come in Sony’s upcoming Tom Hardy-fronted Venom movie... perhaps even teasing a Venom-Verse in the making.

The Many Lives of Venom

Symbiotic relationships are already unusual enough, without Marvel putting their unique spin on them. In this case, one-time adversary Venom bounced from anti-hero to villain and to hero and back again, depending upon the whims of readers and writers. It first bought a ticket to Earth with Spider-Man before jilting the sorta-creepy Klyntar (although he was supposedly first warped by Deadpool himself during Deadpool's Secret Secret Wars). Dejected, he found Eddie Brock, sour after Spidey inadvertently ruined his news career, and contemplating suicide in a church. They bonded over their mutual hatred of Spider-Man and became one of the Web-Head’s most fearsome foes – at least until they decided to fight crime, Punisher-style (twas the '90s after all).

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Eventually, Eddie was diagnosed with cancer. Tired of anti-heroics, he and the alien creature parted ways, with the symbiote bouncing around from several short-term hosts before hooking up with an outright villain, former Scorpion, Mac Gargan. When they stumble across his former host, Eddie – recently cured – the alien skin wants to rekindle its relationship. The battle of wills ends with not one but two symbiotes: classic Venom and Anti-Venom, created by a fusion of antibodies and Klyntar DNA, in The Amazing Spider-Man #569 (2008).

Of course, that’s all water under the bridge now that Eddie and Venom are reunited once more. The first true host is always the best, right?

The Return of Anti-Venom

One of the most curious aspects of Mike Costa’s run on Venom (who co-wrote Venom Inc, along with Spider-writer extraordinaire Dan Slott), was its characterization of the super suit. One of the most complex characters in the series, its short time with ex-Ranger Price shows the former hero fighting its host’s larcenous ways at every turn. Once it discovers Eddie Brock, it believes it’s found happiness once again. But there’s trouble in paradise from the get-go, in particular, since the symbiote seems more unpredictable and bloodthirsty than usual… not that Eddie is a paragon of mental stability, either.

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By Venom Inc #1, Brock is back in codependency city, bickering over his Klyntar pal's tactics. Flash is also on the hunt for his old chum, especially after his former student-turned-symbiotic superhero Andrea “Andi” Benton is accosted and separated from her symbiote Mania by recent Venom host, Lee Price – who steals it with a sonic weapon and christens himself “Maniac." Flash uses his latent connection to the symbiote to track it (and Eddie) down at Alchemax Corp. There, Brock's been working with Dr. Steve to synthesize a medication from the Anti-Venom suit, which he suppresses Venom’s homicidal tendencies with.

When Flash and Spider-Man confront Eddie, Venom is torn between hosts, as well as his anti-hero and heroic natures. The Wall-Crawler’s had enough of the rom-com plotline, though, and knocks over a vat of antipsychotics, drenching Flash, Eddie, and the symbiote. In the aftermath, Eddie and Venom survive the overdose, and Flash emerges in glistening white, as Anti-Venom reborn. They'll need to sort things out ASAP, though, because Maniac is on the loose and turning unwitting criminals into symbiote-clad super-criminals.